Seismic Waves, Location of Epicenter and Moment Magnitude

EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING
EARTHQUAKE MEASUREMENTS
Prepared By: Engr. Brian Eurolfan

Module Objective
To determine how modern earthquake magnitudes
are determined.
Specifically we will be able to learn:

• Seismic Waves
• Exact Location of Earthquakes
• Moment Magnitude
Seismic Waves
SEISMIC WAVES
• Waves of energy caused by sudden breaking
of rocks within the earth.
• Energy that travels through the earth and is
recorded through seismographs
• There are two types of Seismic Waves.
1. Body Waves
- These waves travel through the earth’s interior
layers
2. Surface Waves
- Propagate across the outer layers of the
earth’s crust.
- Generated by constructive interference of
body waves travelling parallel to the ground
surface and various underlying boundaries
Body Waves
Types of BODY WAVES
1. Primary Waves (P-waves)
• It cause alternate push and pull in the
rocks
• It can travel through solid liquid and gases
2. Secondary Waves (S-Waves)

• It causes vertical and horizontal side to
side motion.
• It travels slower than P-waves, usually 50%
to 60% of the speed of P-waves.
• It cannot travel deeper than 2900km since Travel path mechanisms of body
in this depth medium has no rigidity
waves: P‐waves (top) and
S‐waves (bottom)
Surface Waves
Types of SURFACE WAVES
1. Love Waves (LQ Waves)
• Their motion is horizontal and
perpendicular in motion to the
direction of the propagation
• It is the fastest surface wave and
moves the ground from side to side
2. Rayleigh Waves (LR Waves)

• When these wave passes, particles of
soil mass in the form of a retrograde Travel path mechanisms of surface
ellipse whose long axis is waves: Love waves (top) and
perpendicular to the earth’s surface Rayleigh waves (bottom)
Seismic Waves Summary
SURFACE
BODY WAVES
WAVES
P – Waves LQ – Waves
(Primary) (Love)
S- Waves LR – Waves
(Secondary) (Rayleigh)
Body Waves Velocity
The propagation velocities of P‐waves and S‐waves within an
isotropic elastic medium, denoted as vP and vS respectively,
are shown on the right
In which:
• v = Poisson’s ratio of elastic medium (unitless)
• E = Young’s Modulus elastic medium (N/m2) (measure of
stiffness)
• ρ = density of elastic medium (kg/m3)
• k = Bulk modulus of the medium (N/m2) (resistant to
compressibility)
• μ = Shear Modulus (N/m2) (response to shear) (ratio of shear
stress to shear strain)
The ratio of P-waves and S-waves velocities is equivalent to:
Assuming homogenous profile between earthquake foci and

observation sites focal distance, Δx (km) is linearly dependent on
the time lag, Δt (sec) between P-waves and S-waves
Determining Distance
Lag Time – The time difference between Time Travel Curve – a graph of arrival times, commonly by
the primary waves and secondary waves primary and secondary waves, recorded at different points as a
which are observed by earthquake function of distance from the seismic source
measurement equipment.
Assuming lag time is 9 minutes and 20 seconds
Epicenter distance is
assumed to be 8250km
from the seismograph
Exact location of Epicenter
Station A
Distance = 8250km
Station B
Distance = 5500km
Station C
Epicenter of the
Distance = 4700km Earthquake
Thus, minimum
number of stations to
know exact location of
epicenter is 3 stations
Moment Magnitude
• It was developed in the 1970’s to succeed the Richter Magnitude Scale.
• It is based on the seismic moment of an earthquake.
• accounts for the mechanism of shear that takes place at earthquake sources.
• It is not related to any wavelength. As a result, Mw can be used to measure the whole spectrum of ground motions
Mo = μ * D * A
Mw = (2/3) log(Mo) – 10.7
Where:
Mo = seismic moment in dyne-cm
Mw = moment magnitude (unitless)
μ = rock rigidity (shear modulus of the crust)
= it is usually 32000 Mpa or 3.2x1010 N/m2
D = distance that one block slips relative to the other block
A = estimated area that ruptured between the blocks
Sample Problem:
Determine the moment magnitude at Sumatra if the slip is 5m, the length of the rupture is 1300km while the width of the
rupture is 225.65km.
Answer: Mw = 9.081 = 9.1

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!!

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EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING

Prepared By: Engr. Brian Eurolfan

Specifically we will be able to learn:

2. Secondary Waves (S-Waves)

2. Rayleigh Waves (LR Waves)

The ratio of P-waves and S-waves velocities is equivalent to:

Assuming homogenous profile between earthquake foci and

Assuming lag time is 9 minutes and 20 seconds

Answer: Mw = 9.081 = 9.1

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